1. Field of the Invention
The disclosure relates generally to an improved data processing system, and, in particular, to a data processing system for processing items in an electronic purchase. Still more particularly, the present disclosure relates to a method and apparatus for hybrid processing of a single shopping cart using multiple modes of fulfillment.
2. Description of the Related Art
With traditional retail store shopping experiences, a customer selects items at the store by placing them in a shopping cart. The customer moves around the store with the items selected while looking for other items that they also may purchase. When the customer is ready to purchase the selected items, the customer moves to a location of a point of sale terminal. The customer then purchases the items at this point of sale terminal.
In some cases, a customer may wish to purchase more items than can reasonably be purchased using a traditional retail shopping experience at a brick and mortar store. For example, a customer may desire to purchase more items than can be carried in a shopping cart in the store. As another example, the customer may not have sufficient room at home to store items that are purchased from the store.
Retail stores, on occasion, offer customers discounted prices for bulk purchases. Bulk purchasing benefits both the retailer, who makes more sales, and the customer who gets a discounted price. However, customers placing a limited number of items of a particular type in their shopping cart may not be aware of a bulk price offer for the item. Additionally, even if the customer is aware of the bulk price, the customer may choose to ignore the bulk price offer due to limited storage, product expiration dates, and other factors.
One current approach to improving the retail store shopping experience includes having retail store clerks offer shipping to customers for large and heavy items. These items may be, for example, furniture and appliances. This approach is limited in a number of ways. For example, a sufficient number of retail store clerks may not be available to do the work of setting up the shipping of the items. As another example, the additional time spent by store clerks setting up the shipping of the items may be undesirable when compared to time the store clerks spend on other tasks.
Another approach to improving the retail store shopping experience includes having a customer purchase an item for pickup at the retail store. For example, when a large or expensive item is selected, a customer may be directed by the store to pick up the item at a specified location of the store. For example, the customer may be directed to pickup and purchase an item at a customer service desk at the retail store. As another example, the customer may be directed to collect the item, after purchase, at a location of the store suited for pickup of large items. In some cases, selecting items to purchase may be limited to in-store pickup at the time of purchase.
Therefore, it would be desirable to have a method, apparatus, and computer program product that takes into account at least some of the issues discussed above.